CU-Boulder
Professor Is Co-Recipient Of $250,000 Heinz Award For The
Environment

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A professor of civil
engineering who has helped bring the basic necessities of water,
electricity and sanitation to remote, poverty-stricken areas of
the world has been selected as a co-recipient of the 13th annual
Heinz Award for the Environment, among the largest individual
achievement prizes in the world.

Dr. Bernard Amadei, 53,
the founder of Engineers Without Borders - USA - a non-profit
organization whose 8,000 members have helped improve the quality
of life for people in as many as 43 countries over the past seven
years - is among six distinguished Americans selected to share
the $1.25 million in awards, presented in five categories by the
Heinz Family Foundation.

"Dr. Amadei is literally
engineering change in pockets of our country and world that are
bereft of even the most basic living infrastructures," said
Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. "As
founder of Engineers Without Borders, he is harnessing the power
of networks and design to improve the lives and fortunes of some
of the world's poorest people. His talented teams of academics,
professionals and students put to rest the tired notion that
engineering and environmental protection don't go together by
demonstrating how creative thinking and high standards can
benefit both people and the planet."

Dr. Amadei
shares the award with Susan Seacrest, founder of the Groundwater
Foundation.

Launched with fellow faculty, professionals
and students at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000,
Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) applies a combination
of professional expertise and selfless compassion to remote areas
of the world. With funds it raises itself, the organization takes
on a range of sustainable engineering projects, such as those
that provide clean water, sanitation, energy and education to
villages in underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and
North and South America.

Dr. Amadei first confronted the
dire living conditions of some of the world's poverty-stricken
communities in 2000 during a trip to Belize, where he was asked
to examine the possibility of a water delivery system for San
Pablo, a tiny Mayan village that had no electricity, running
water or sanitation. Returning to Boulder, the professor
recruited civil and environmental engineering students and a
local civil engineering expert and set about designing and
implementing a water distribution system whose pump was fueled by
a local waterfall and ultimately provided a steady flow of water
- one gallon per minute - to the town. The entire project was
completed at a cost of about $14,000 with the help of the local
community.

Buoyed by the success of the Belize project,
Dr. Amadei founded EWB-USA, which has since grown to 224 projects
in 43 countries, 8,000 members and 235 established university and
professional chapters. In 2001, he co-founded the
EWB-International Network, now in 45 countries - including
Rwanda, Kenya, India and Palestine.

EWB-USA projects are
designed to be maintainable, economically efficient and
environmentally sustainable for specific local conditions.
Completed projects, many of which are brought to EWB-USA by
universities with exchange programs or in-country volunteers,
include the installation of solar-powered lighting at a community
school and a water purification system in Brazil (coordinated by
the EWB chapter at the University of California, Santa Barbara),
the construction of a dam and irrigation system on the Kumudo
River in Ethiopia (Princeton) and a natural water filtration and
storage system in Honduras (University of Pennsylvania).

In
order to globally educate responsible engineering students, Dr.
Amadei has created a new program at the University of Colorado at
Boulder called Engineering for Developing Communities. The
program serves as a blueprint for the education of engineers of
the 21st century who are called to play a critical role in
contributing to peace and security in an increasingly challenged
world.

"The success of Engineers Without Borders is
due to two overriding factors," Dr. Amadei said. "First
is the tremendous need. There are literally thousands of remote
villages around the globe that need the basic necessities of life
such as clean water, sanitation, energy, shelter, education,
health, etc. About 1.2 billion people (out of 6.4 billion) do not
have access to clean water in the world today. We have begun to
address such demand by virtue of the tremendous spirit of
compassion that exists within the extended engineering community
and like-minded partnering organizations. I am grateful to the
staff of EWB-USA, my numerous colleagues and to the many bright
and committed engineering students and professionals around the
country who share our passion for making an enduring difference
in the lives of so many beyond our borders. On their behalf, I am
proud to accept the Heinz Award for the Environment."

Since 1993, the Heinz Family Foundation of Pittsburgh has
recognized individuals whose dedication, skill and generosity of
spirit represent the best of the human qualities that the late
Sen. Heinz, for whom the award is named, held so dear.

Presented in five categories, the other Heinz Award
recipients are:

o Arts and Humanities: Dave Eggers, San
Francisco, author and founder of the 826 Valencia writing
laboratories as well as a publishing house for emerging writers

The
Heinz Family Foundation, one of the Heinz Family Philanthropies,
began as a charitable trust established by the late Sen. Heinz in
1984. His widow, Teresa Heinz, created the Heinz Awards in 1993
as the primary activity of the foundation. In addition to the
Heinz Awards, the foundation directs a grant-making program that
is active in a wide range of issues, principally those concerning
women's health and environment, health care cost and coverage, as
well as pensions and retirement security.

Nominations for
the Heinz Awards are submitted by an invited Council of
Nominators, all experts in their fields, who serve anonymously.
Award recipients are selected by the board of directors for the
Heinz Awards upon recommendation by a blue-ribbon panel of jurors
in each category.

In
addition to the $250,000 award for their unrestricted use,
recipients are presented with a medallion inscribed with the
image of Sen. Heinz on one side and a rendering of a

globe
passing between two hands on the other. The medallion symbolizes
the partnership, continuity and values carried on to the next
generation. The hands also suggest passing on the stewardship of
the earth to future generations.

The Heinz Awards will be
presented at a private ceremony on October 22 in Pittsburgh.